Spider-goat By: Afiya Khan

Spider-goat

Genetic engineering of different species is no longer just an absurd idea. It has become a wide spread frenzy in which numerous scientists and researches have began to investigate and has had a tremendous amount of success. In May of 2010, researchers at the University of Wyoming developed a way in which they incorporated a spiders' silk-spinning genes into a normal goat. 

The overall strength and elasticity of a spider's silk fiber is beyond belief. In the medical world, the use of spider silk fiber can be applied for creating artificial ligaments and tendons. The use of spider silk can also include creating security vests or even fishing lines. However, due to spiders' being territorial insects, keeping them in captivity in large amounts has been unsuccessful. Therefore, the idea of injecting another species with the spiders' gene was developed, in order to overcome this obstacle. Randy Lewis, a molecular biology professor at Wyoming came up with this suggestion. By injecting the goats, it would cause them to only produce milk that contained protein, which is the equivalent to the spider's silk fiber.

The spider-goat technology is a convenient and cheap way to produce a large amount of spider silk fiber. The first step to this process is by extracting the spiders' dragline silk gene and then injecting it into goats. This experiment was done by Lewis, wherein he injected a total of ten goats. However, out of the ten goats only a mere three adapted and carried the gene. The other seven were normal and had no trace of the gene. Overtime, the goats began to produce milk that did contain sufficient amounts of protein, making the experiment a complete success.

This technology is not limited to any part of the world. Many countries which are striving for advances in the medical world, would see this technology as needed. The numerous uses of the silk can help surgeons and doctors save lives, by creating needed muscle parts.

Spider-goat engineering does not bring about many known problems. It does not harm the goat or cause any health concerns for the animal. The injection of the gene is harmless and requires very little maintenance. On the other hand, like most genetic engineering experiments, the outcome is never 100% successful. For example, as stated before, only three out of ten goats were able to produce the milk enriched with protein. These results prove that although the gene transplant can be done, it is not certain to work 10/10 times.

Many individuals may disagree with scientists tampering and changing an animals' genetic structure. They do not approve of the spiders' silk being produced from a mutated goat. Although the experiments are done for human benefits, it does not give scientists permission to alter another species genetic material. These people view the the spider-goat technology as unethical and cruel towards innocent goats. In addition, the goats that end up not being able to produce the protein milk, are required by law to be euthanized since they have been genetically modified.

Personally, I do not think that this technology should be used worldwide. It does in fact benefit us as humans, however, in the process many innocent animals are killed. I believe that the ethical issues out weigh the medical pros. Therefore, the use of this technology should be limited to a small amount of countries that are only in desperate need of it. What results do you think the spider-goat technology will produce, if used in the medical world to create artificial ligaments and tendons? Will it have disappointing or satisfying results? Explain your opinion.

References:
http://phys.org/news194539934.html
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2012/jan/14/synthetic-biology-spider-goat-genetics
https://sites.google.com/site/noespidergoat/opposition